Chinese FM meets his Danish counterpart

COPENHAGEN - Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi and his Danish counterpart Villy Sovndal discussed bilateral relations on Friday, pledging to further advance cooperation.

During the meeting, Yang said Chinese President Hu Jintao's current state visit to Denmark will inject strong impetus into their comprehensive strategic partnership.

In the next stage, he said, the two sides should focus on implementing the consensus reached by the leaders of the two countries and expanding their cooperation in depth and breadth so as to turn the initiatives put forward during the visit into tangible results.

On top of that, more efforts should be made to advance the bilateral ties based on mutual respect, equality and mutual benefit, making it a model of China-Europe cooperation, he said.

Sovndal said Denmark highly values the comprehensive strategic partnership with China.

The Danish government recently developed a growth strategy focusing China, aimed at boosting stronger communication and cooperation between the two countries, he said.

Sovndal said he believed Hu's visit will boost mutual understanding, expand mutual beneficial cooperation and advance China-Denmark ties to a higher level.

Denmark, he said, is ready to continue to play a positive role in furthering the relations between China and Europe.

The two sides also exchanged views on the European debt crisis and the Syria issue.